Easton EQ5 skate canceled?

[BenderHockey 127]

My point wasn't about who was wearing them. It was simply about the fact that the skates were used in the playoffs, they were not absent as had been claimed.

I think his point is that if Aaron Asham is wearing them, they ARE absent, for all intents and purposes.

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

Spoke to Easton's skate product manager to clarify this today -

Due to factory/production issues they were not able to fulfill all 3 markets fully (US/Canada/International) so they decided to go with 2 markets; Canada and International rather than to limit all 3.

The US will get a new skate soon at some point, but there will be a white S17 and a black S12 for Q4.

[DolomaticDangles 13]

Black S12, thats sexy.

[jsykes 35]

Thanks JR. Makes a little sense, but sucks for the US market.

Do you know if they expect to just skip the US market till the new version comes out, or produce something EQ5 like specifically for the US market as soon as possible?

[the iceman 132]

If anyone is loooking for them, Cyclone Taylor has the EQ5s.

[Krev 86]

That's because Cyclone Taylor is in Canada. Canada, is actually getting the EQ5.

[MattKingDelToro 2]

When are they going to update the Stealth skate line?

[the iceman 132]

Probably Spring 2011. In the past most companies seem to update some of their product lines every 2 years.

[gxc999 7]

Gigantic mistake by Easton. So they're going to concede the US to Bauer? I don't quite get the idea.

[CTHockey 2]

The EQ5 skates were canceled because of bad "graphics"... Supposedly some of the higher ups at Easton didnt like the graphics package and ultimately decided to pull the plug last minute. I for one feel there were some faults in the design of the boot which would have cost them a ton if they released it. Theres definitely a reason these skates were pulled last minute and I doubt any of us will ever hear the real reason. Whether it was poor graphics or poor design flaws, I'm sure someone at Easton has paid for this costly mistake.

[chippa13 1844]

If it winds up being design flaws then I'm sure we'll hear about from folks in Canada and abroad who take a chance on the skates.

[shifter 0]

IMO the skate just looks way to plain and good thing easton realized that.. The tendon guard looks to me like its gonna snap lol and there needs to be a bit more colour into the skate to make it stick out more

[raganblink 82]

The EQ5 skates were canceled because of bad "graphics"... Supposedly some of the higher ups at Easton didnt like the graphics package and ultimately decided to pull the plug last minute. I for one feel there were some faults in the design of the boot which would have cost them a ton if they released it. Theres definitely a reason these skates were pulled last minute and I doubt any of us will ever hear the real reason. Whether it was poor graphics or poor design flaws, I'm sure someone at Easton has paid for this costly mistake.

That's what I heard.. coming from them.. but doubt that it is that, considering these skates have been in dev for years that it is the look of the skate.

Considering every skate easton has had up to the s17 fell apart, I'm guessing this one was like its predecessors. Thus they decided to cancel it. I also heard that whoever makes the skates messed up on the eq4, that's why they canceled that, and then since the QC wasn't that great on the eq5 that they decided to scrap that too. who knows, but odds are its because it would have hurt their reputation even more by releasing them, rather than just doing what they are now.

And PM, now I get why there are white S17s :P Which basically proves they've known about the QC issues for a long time if they had the white LEs already designed and stuff months ago.

[PMurphy17 25]

The EQ5 skates were canceled because of bad "graphics"... Supposedly some of the higher ups at Easton didnt like the graphics package and ultimately decided to pull the plug last minute. I for one feel there were some faults in the design of the boot which would have cost them a ton if they released it. Theres definitely a reason these skates were pulled last minute and I doubt any of us will ever hear the real reason. Whether it was poor graphics or poor design flaws, I'm sure someone at Easton has paid for this costly mistake.

Tell me your joking, or that you were high when you wrote that post. No design flaws no poor graphics.

[PMurphy17 25]

That's what I heard.. coming from them.. but doubt that it is that, considering these skates have been in dev for years that it is the look of the skate.

Considering every skate easton has had up to the s17 fell apart, I'm guessing this one was like its predecessors. Thus they decided to cancel it. I also heard that whoever makes the skates messed up on the eq4, that's why they canceled that, and then since the QC wasn't that great on the eq5 that they decided to scrap that too. who knows, but odds are its because it would have hurt their reputation even more by releasing them, rather than just doing what they are now.

And PM, now I get why there are white S17s :P Which basically proves they've known about the QC issues for a long time if they had the white LEs already designed and stuff months ago.

Rag- do you ever give up? :o I love conspiracy theories but they rarely hold water in the Sporting goods industry.

Your wrong on the reasoning for the eq5 & 4.

S17 white has nothing to with it. Nice try on the linkage but the 2 items are unrelated. I'm pretty sure you will see months from now the white S17 is more about structure of product offerings.

[raganblink 82]

wow. again shocked. is there nothing I can get right about easton's skates? holy shit...

I'm just going to give up on them.

[DarkStar50 679]

Bottom line: Easton needs huge hit with Holiday OPS, EQ50.

[skyscrape 5]

Tell me your joking, or that you were high when you wrote that post. No design flaws no poor graphics.

I mean this with no sarcasm, but do you work for Easton? If so, can you explain the reasoning then? It would be nice to see what is really going on.

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

He doesn't.

Bottom line is this - if the product was not up to snuff, it wouldn't be released ANYWHERE. The Canadian and international markets are bigger than the US market.

[skyscrape 5]

He doesn't.

Bottom line is this - if the product was not up to snuff, it wouldn't be released ANYWHERE. The Canadian and international markets are bigger than the US market.

Very good point! It is better to loose one market I guess, than to lose them all. Besides I would imagine it won't be too long before Easton releases something.

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

Very good point! It is better to loose one market I guess, than to lose them all. Besides I would imagine it won't be too long before Easton releases something.

Easton's done a yearly cycle on skates in the past (and they'll probably come up with a new skate for 2011 which they'll release globally.)

[CharlesC 0]

It seems like these skates are hitting some parts of the US market. I saw the EQ5 skates today at Five Hole Sports in Raleigh, NC.

[MattKingDelToro 2]

This whole release has been weird. As an aside, I find it kind of odd that the catalog shows Dany Heatley wearing S15 skates and Henrik Zetterberg wearing what looks like old Z-Airs. I don't know why they didn't put those players in the current product shown in the catalog.

[burrn 0]

That itself implies they're not putting much weight into the skate releases this year.

I do recall Parise wearing them on the catalogue though.

By the way, those are what they actually wear.

[duch 0]

From personal experience Easton is not doing well in the skate department. I've spoken to a few LHS's and a lot of them have seemed to push Easton to the side because of problems dealing with their reps and durability issues with Easton skates. Both myself and my son use Easton skates and neither of us have found anything in the way of durability issues with them and we both love the way they perform on ice. I have a pair of 1300C's in fact that are into their fifth year of service and are still in very decent shape. Regardless, there seems to be less and less in the way of Easton skates on the market recently and other than pickup hockey I see very few guys using Easton anymore. Bauer is by far the most popular with Reebok/CCM and Graf following them.